Emory Upton

Emory Upton (27 August 1839-15 March 1881) was a Major-General of the US Army during the American Civil War who notably commanded the 121st New York Infantry at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and wrote about the United States' military history.

Biography
Emory Upton was born in Batavia, New York in 1839, and he became the brother-in-law of fellow Union general Francis Preston Blair Jr.. He graduated from West Point on 6 May 1861, eighth in a class of 45 cadets, and he was scarred in the face during a deul with a fellow cadet who insulted his alleged relationships with African-American girls at Oberlin College. Upton became a US Army artillery lieutenant at the start of the American Civil War, and he was wounded at Bull Run and Blackburn's Ford. He would continue leading artillery during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, and he was promoted to Major after Rappahanock Station in November 1863. In 1864, he led a brigade during the Overland Campaign, and he was wounded while leading a massive infantry assault on the Mule Shoe salient, a precusor to the World War I trench warfare tactics. Upton was promoted to Brigadier-General for his service at the Mule Shoe during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and his division would continue fighting in Virginia before serving under James H. Wilson at the Battle of Selma in 1865. On 30 April 1866, he was mustered out of service, and he later wrote about the USA's military history. In 1880, he returned to the rank of colonel and was sent to the Presidio of San Francisco, and he shot himself in the head to escape the pain of a brain tumor.